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I need some help
Sun, 07/22/2018 - 20:51Topic: Share Your Story
For a few years I've been having odd symptoms...mainly while trying to fall asleep. I get random left side numbness that comes and goes. As I'm falling asleep I get this feeling that my heart is racing but it's not and for a few seconds I can't move or open my eyes. I sometimes get this shaking feeling but it's not visible. After pestering doctors over and over and telling them that I'm not having anxiety they finally sent me to a neurologist. They started with an MRI and saw a small lesion on my brain, from there they started thinking MS. As part of all of the diagnostic work they did an EEG. The EEG showed some slight abnormalities so they decided to do a 3-day VEEG. After those results they said I have epilepsy and need to start taking Keppra. I've never lost consciousness and have never had a visible seizure and my license was suspended. I asked for the doctor to explain when they saw the seizures during the test and they said they didn't know, just that I was having them. I don't know how this helps them or me. Wouldn't it be important to know when I'm having them? When I asked for a report they gave me a piece of paper that had a sort of summary. It listed some things and the following I don't understand: Epileptiform activity seen, Drowsiness is characterized by attenuation of the background and occasionally increased beta and then it went on with: Sleep is visualized, Stage II sleep is within normal limits , characterized by normal presence of spindles vertex sharp waves, delta waves visualized. Can anyone help me understand what the above means? Also, how could I have gone 34 years with no known seizures and then all of the sudden have them? When I asked my doctor if something could be causing them she just said she didn't know. I'm currently looking for a new neurologist...
WelcomeThe EEG is a test
Submitted by just_joe on Mon, 2018-07-23 - 10:59
WelcomeThe EEG is a test showing the electrical activity in your brain. Just like the EKG OR ECG shows in your heart. Doctors can find abnormal heart beats and other things during the EKG. It doesn't mean you are having a heart attack but your heart is beating different then most peoples.The EEG is to find abnormalities in your brain. Abnormalities are spikes. waves and other things which are not normal. Neurologists refer to them as seizure activity or epileptiform. Seizure activity in your brain does not mean you were having a seizure at the time of the test.If they found lesion on your brain and looked at the EEG then they might find the cause of your epilepsy. A brain lesion is an abnormality seen on a brain-imaging test, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computerized tomography (CT). Both the EEG and your MRI show abnormalities and if looked at they are probably from the same area of the brain.When I was tested they saw abnormalities in the left lobes of my brain. The MRI back then showed scar tissue in the left lobes of my brain.Your brain is a big computer and everything that happens comes from electrical impulses. Abnormalities can cause some of those electrical impulses to hit wrong. That wrong hit can cause a chain reaction. That chain reaction would be the seizure.Not all seizures can be seen and you may have been having them without you knowing you had them. Have people ever thought you were daydreaming? You see absence and focal seizures start out with the person looking like they were daydreaming. Ever have a muscle twitch? There are many different types of seizures.